Venetian blind



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J. ARMENIA ETAL VENETIAN BLIND Filed June 15, 1964 Oct. 4, 1966 UnitedStates Patent 3,276,511 VENETIAN BLIND Joseph Armenia and VirginiaArmenia, both of 346 Union St., Brooklyn, N.Y. Filed June 15, 1964, Ser.No. 375,243 1 Claim. (Cl. 160-468) The present invention relates to acombination ventilator and shade of the Venetian blind type.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a highly novelconstruction for the ventilator and shade slats which includes a highlynovel construction for mounting the said slats so as to permit thetilting of the slats or the tilting and raising and lowering thereof.

In accordance with the foregoing object, it is another object of thepresent invention to provide a construction wherein the slats aremounted directly by tapes which are provided with vertical openingsthrough which portions of the slats extend, which vertical openings tendto close under the weight of the slats so as to securely retain theslats in position in the tapes without the utilization of any additionalsecuring means.

i It is another object of the present invention to provide a Venetianblind of the described type having an elevating cord which does notextend through the slats and which extends laterally outwardly of theslats so as not to interfere with the movement or adjustment thereof.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a ventilator:and shade of the described type which is adapted to be secured byconventional Venetian blind hardware and with which the novel slats andtape construction readily adapt themselves to afford a ventilator andshade which will be extremely durable and yet of a simplifiedconstruction and which will eliminate the use of small transverse tapesfor individually supporting the slats which are subject to considerablewear and require frequent replacements;

Other and further objects and advantages of the present invention willbe readily apparent to one skilled in the art from a consideration ofthe following specification taken in connection with the appendeddrawings.

In the drawing, which illustrates the best mode presently contemplatedfor carrying out the invention:

FIGURE 1 is an elevational view of a Venetian blind pursuant to thepresent invention, mounted in position on a window casement, with aportion broken away for purposes of illustration and with variousportions thereof omitted for purposes of illustration;

FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary detail view on an enlarged scale of a portionof the Venetian blind with parts being broken away and shown in sectionfor purposes of illustration;

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary sectional view on an enlarged scale, taken onthe line 3-3 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 4-4 of FIGURE3;

FIGURE 5 is a perspective view of a slat pursuant to the presentinvention; and

FIGURE 6 is :a fragmentary view taken on the line 6-6 of FIGURE 1.

Referring now to the drawing in detail, there is shown a Venetian blind10 pursuant to the present invention. The Venetian blind is providedwith a headboard 12 which is mounted at either end thereof on a bracket14 which is suitably secured to the window casement W. A conventionalvalence 16 fills the space between the headboard 12 and the upper end ofthe window. The headboard 12 mounts therebelow a conventional tiltboard18. Adjacent one end thereof, the headpiece 12 is provided at the lowersurface thereof with conventional gear and pinion means 20, in which oneend of the tilt-bar 18 is journalled. The other end of the tilt-bar isjournalled 3,276 ,51 l Patented Oct. 4, 1966 in a hanger bearing 22provided adjacent the other end of the headpiece. A pull-cord 24operates the gear and pinion means 20 to rock the tilt-bar 18 inconventional manner.

The headpiece 12 is provided with a longitudinal groove 26 which isdefined in the upper surface thereof. Pulleys 28 and 30 are provided inthe headpiece at each end of the groove 26. An additional pulley 32 isprovided inwardly of the pulleys 30. A slat-elevating or raising cordwhich is generally indicated by the reference numeral 34, is providedwith a loop 36 which depends between the pulleys 30 and 32, as bestshown in FIGURE 2. From the loop 36, one portion 38 of the cord 34extends over the pulley 30 and passes through one end of a bottom slat40 where it is knotted as :at 42. A second portion 44 of the elevatingcord 34 extends over the pulley 32 and passes through the groove 26 inthe headpiece 12 and extends over the pulley 28, to pass downwardly andthrough the opposite end of the bottom slat 40, being knotted as at 46.From the foregoing, it will. be apparent that the bottom slat 40 iscarried by the opposite knotted ends 42 and 46 of the slat-elevatingcord 34 and it will be understood that when the loop 36 in the cord 34is pulled downwardly in the direction of the arrow 48, shown in FIGURE1, the bottom slat 40 will be pulled upwardly toward the headpiece 12.It will be noted that the pulley 32 is contained within a housing 50mounted by the headboard 12, the housing also being provided with aconventional cord lock 52, whereby the loop 36 is retained in positionin any adjusted disposition thereof, so that the bottom slat 40 thereofmay be retained in an adjusted position thereof with respect to theheadpiece 12.

The tiltiboard 18 is provided with a pair of laterally spaced tapes 54and 56. More specifically, each tape is provided with a center portion58 which is secured as by the securing means 60 adjacent to one end ofthe tiltbar 18. Consequently, it will be apparent that each tape isformed into a front and rear portion, as indicated in connection withthe tape 54 by the front portion 54A and the rear portion 54B. Each tapeportion is provided, pursuant to a highly novel feature of the presentinvention, with a plurality of vertical slits 62, it being understoodthat each slit 62 in a front tape portion is paired with a slit 62 in arear tape portion viewing FIGURES 1 and 3.

Pursuant to another highly novel feature of the present invention, thetapes mount slats 64 of the type best shown in FIGURE 5. Morespecifically, each slat 64 comprises an elongated body portion 66 whichis provided inwardly of each of the ends thereof with a pair oflaterally-extending projections or fingers 68. It will be noted that theslats 64 are free of any openings. It will be understood that the slats64 may be formed of any conventional material suitable for use in aVenetian blind such as for example, and not by way of limitation, steel,plastic or fibreboard, and it will be noted that the slats 64 areshorter than the bottom slat 40 and are also thinner and preferably oflighter weight than the bottom slat 40. In this connection, it will beunderstood that the bottom slat 40 may also be made of any conventionalVenetian blind slat material but is preferably made of wood.

The upper slats 64 are mounted by the tapes 54 and 56. Morespecifically, and as best shown in FIGURE 3, each pair of associatedprojections or fingers 68 is inserted into an associated pair ofvertical slits 62 in the front and rear portions of the associated tape54 or 56, as the case may be. When so mounted, it will be noted that theslats 64 terminate inwardly of the opposite end portions 38 and 44 ofthe slat-elevating cord 34, as best shown in FIGURE 1. Moreover, it willbe understood that the weight of each slat bearing upon the bottom ofthe associated vertical slits 62 tends to cause said slits to close orconstrict so as to securely retain the slats in position on the tapes 54and 56 without the necessity of any additional securing means. Since theengagement of the slats and the tapes is accomplished solely by theinsertion of the slat projections 68 into the tape slits 62, it will bereadily apparent that the slats can be easily removed for cleaning orreplacement and then very simply inserted into the tapes without therequirement for utilizing any particular tools or without the necessityfor making any type of fixed or permanent securement of the slats to orin the tapes. Moreover, it will be noted that this ready removal andreplacement of the various slats 64 in the associated tapes 54 and 56 isfacilitated due to the fact that the slat-lift cord 34 does not extendthrough the slats 64, as in the prior art. As previously indicated, thelift cord is secured only to the bot-tom slat 40 and is free of anydirect association with any slats 64. Further, it will be understoodthat pulling downwardly on the loop 34, as indicated by the arrow 48 inFIGURE 1, will be effective to lift the bottom slat 40 and all of theslats 64 thereabove, so as to raise the slats toward the tilt-bar 18.Similarly, the release of the raised slats by releasing the cord 34 fromthe lock 52 will permit the slats to open or move downwardly under theaction of gravity, as facilitated by the weight of the bottom slat 40.

The slats may be opened or closed by tilting thereof in conventionalmanner. More specifically and for this purpose, the pull-cord 24 isoperated so as to operate the gear and pinion means in conventionalmanner for tilting the tilt-bar 18, as may be desired, where-by one orthe other .of each tape section is lifted or moved downwardly, dependingupon the direction of tilting of the tilt-bar 18 and the resultantmovement of the tape sections is effective to operate on thecomplementary or associated projections 68 of the various slats 64, soas to tilt the slats 64 in the same direction as the tilting of thetilt-bar 18. More specifically, and as best shown in FIGURE 6, thevarious slats are moved from the full line to the broken-line positionthereof when the pull cord 24 is operated in a direction so as to tiltthe tilt-bar-IS to move the front tape sections 54A and 64A downwardly,as indicated by the arrow 70, while moving the rear tape sections 54Band 56B upwardly, as indicated by the arrow 72.

In view of the foregoing, it will be readily apparent that there hasbeen illustrated and descrilbed a highly novel and efficient Venetianblind construction. It will be understood that various changes andmodifications may be made therein without, however, departing from theinventive concept thereof, as set forth in the appended claim.

We claim:

In a Venetian blind construction having a tilt-bar and manually operablemeans to rock said tilt-bar about its longitudinal axis, a pair oflaterally spaced tape means provided on said tilt-bar, a bottom slatmounted by said tape means, a manually operable lift cord extendingdownwardly from said tilt-bar, said bottom slat being engaged with saidlift cord whereby to raise and lower said bottom slat relative to saidtilt-bar, and a plurality of upper slats spaced vertically between saidtilt-bar and said bottom slat, each pair of tape means having laterallyspaced portions between which said upper slats are releasably engaged,said upper slats having lateral projections and said tape portionshaving slits defined therein in which said lateral projections arereceived.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 932,127 8/1909Hough 160236 X 2,165,292 7/1939 Morse et al. 160-173 2,280,931 4/1942Rice 160-173 2,379,353 6/1945 Herron 1 60-178 2,555,737 6/1951 Frankelet al. 160178 2,682,427 6/1954 Bright -14 2,884,052 4/1959 Lando et a1.168

HARRISON R. MOSELEY, Primary Examiner. P. M. CAUN, Assistant Examiner.

